TAHLEQUAH – Northeastern State makes in final regular season road trip this weekend with a three-game series at Missouri Southern.

With six games remaining in the MIAA slate, the RiverHawks are in sixth place in the standings and two games in front of the cut line for the upcoming postseason tournament.  The squad is five games back of a hosting spot for a best-of-three series. 

Missouri Southern (34-11, 21-6 MIAA) has spent the previous two weeks ranked 17th in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Division II Top 25 Poll.  The Lions are tied with Central Missouri in the Association standings; the pair holds a two-game lead on Pittsburg State. 

The RiverHawks (18-22, 12-15 MIAA) handled the Lions in last season's series in Tahlequah and ran-ruled them in two of the games. 

Brayden Rodden is the most recent MIAA Hitter of the Week and has a base knock in eight consecutive games.  The senior is batting .361 and had a team-high nine homers.  Blake Freeman is seventh among active players in NCAA Baseball with 288 career hits and played his 200th game Tuesday at Northwestern Oklahoma.

First pitch Friday is at 6 p.m., Saturday and Sunday's games start at 1 p.m.